Clash Potential
by Seraphilim
Summary: The KD Project has been revived. Terry Lineford, a subject of the original project, must strive to halt it's completion, even if he must turn to former foes to do so.
1. P:M1 Overrun

Starcraft: Clash Potential  
  
By Seraphilim  
  
---  
  
Prologue: Pledge of No Allegiance  
  
Mission One: Overrun  
  
---  
  
'Is this what hell is like?' thought Corporal Janus Stokes, a squad leader in the Confederacy's Zeta Squadron, as he and a half dozen other marines held their ground outside the last evacuation zone against the onslaught of the rampaging Zerg. Janus still couldn't believe that Tarsonis, the heart world of the Confederacy, was in such a state. Somehow, the Sons of Korhal had gotten the Zerg to fight for them; at least that was what Janus' CO said.  
  
Hunkering down by the blasted remains of a bunker, Janus and three other marines continued to plaster the rushing zerglings and hydralisks with gunfire. They were holding, but the Zerg were pushing the wall closer. Even now, Janus could see the Zerg break through and overrun the three soldiers stationed further ahead; their cries of horror and pain lost in the wind as Janus' group concentrated on their own survival.  
  
Thankfully, they got the message that the dropships had landed, so the four men pulled back from their position and fled like bats out of hell. Out of the corners of his eyes, Janus could see other marines who had been guarding the LZ also running for the dropships, the Zerg in frenzied pursuit. One by one, soldiers were overtaken and slaughtered by the faster beasts. Nearing the closest of the three dropships, Janus noticed that several other soldiers had already gotten onboard.  
  
Janus and his squadmates lunged forward to rush up into the dropship's carrying bay. Finally, Janus looked back. There were still a few soldiers running for the dropships, but the Zerg were almost upon them. In mute and morbid fascination, Janus watched as each of the hopeless soldiers fell prey to the swift assault of the Zerg.  
  
'Wait… that guy on the left… he might make it!' thought Janus as he picked out one of the last soldiers. This man wasn't wearing the bulky CMC-400 armor that was SI for Confederacy marines; because of his lack of armor, he was able to keep much further ahead of the pursuing Zerg. Acting quickly, Janus moved to the mouth of the bay, holding onto one of the landing hatch's hydraulics with one hand and reaching out with the other.  
  
"Grab my hand!" shouted Janus as he reached out as far as he could. He could hear the dropship's engines picking up; they were taking off! The fleeing soldier, alone now, leapt forward and grabbed Janus' reaching hand in a deathgrip just as the dropship lifted up into the air. The two men scrambled inside as the landing hatch closed shut behind them. Janus sat down heavily, feeling sweat running down the side of his neck. He turned to the man he just saved, who was lying on the deck gasping for air.  
  
"You okay?" asked the corporal. The man on the floor nodded, and gave a grin as he caught his breath. "Thanks for the save… I owe you one." He said as he offered a hand. "First Lieutenant Terry Lineford, the ass-fraggin' pilot."  
  
Janus took the offered hand in his own, and careful not to crush Terry's unarmored limb with the CMC-400's, shook. "Corporal Janus Stokes, the ass-haulin' marine. Wait, pilot? You got shot down or something?"  
  
Terry shook his head, "No, I don't suck. They blew up my Wraith on the launch pad before I got there, so I hooked up with some grunts and they told me this was the nearest evac point, so…"  
  
He was interrupted when the dropship's pilot's voice rang out over the intercom. "Guys, better hold on to something. We got airborne bastards headed for us."  
  
The nine soldiers inside the bay took the advice to heart, and they all latched onto the nearest part of the hull as the dropship, slow and bulky as it was, began evasive maneuvers. In the cockpit, the pilot grit his teeth as he swerved out of the path of a salvo of Glave Wurms from a Mutalisk. To his right, he saw the lead dropship take a hit to the side from a second Mutalisk attack. The dropship held together, luckily.  
  
As they broke for space, the rear dropship exploded suddenly. Risking a look back, the pilot of the lead dropship saw small Zerg fliers chasing them.  
  
"Oh, shit! Those're those flying bombs! Heavy Two, keep with the evasive maneuvers! Warspite! We've got scourges on our ass! They already got Heavy Three!"  
  
The response was quick. "Understood, Dagger group is coming up to your starboard side for escort."  
  
Both dropship pilots heard the response, and both held true to it by twisting and turning the clunky dropships in directions they weren't designed to go. The crazy maneuvers managed to keep the scourges from coming in contact, but it was only a matter of time before someone got unlucky. And, just as the three Wraiths from Dagger flight group arrived and opened fire with missiles, two scourges overtook the lead dropship, their small bodies overloading with explosive chemicals and blowing Heavy One to metal dust and shards. The Wraiths cut the remaining scourges down to pieces, but it was too late for two of the dropships. Thankfully the surviving ship, Heavy Two, had taken miniscule damage at all, miraculously. The Wraiths escorted the dropship to the waiting battlecruiser, the Warspite. Once the dropship was confirmed landed and onboard safely, the Warspite and its fellow ships fled the space above Tarsonis.  
  
---  
  
Mission One: Complete  
  
---  
  
That's it for now. This story is set up similar to the Vision of the Future campaign created by Razorclaw X. The Prologue will be divided into a few missions, then Chapter One will be divided, and so on. Makes it much easier for me to write, and also gives me the opportunity to maybe make this into a custom campaign. 


	2. P:M2A Endaris Revolt

Starcraft: Clash Potential  
  
By Seraphilim  
  
---  
  
Prologue: Pledge of No Allegiance  
  
Mission Two (First Half): Endaris Revolt  
  
---  
  
After the Warspite made it's escape from Tarsonis, the soldiers who were rescued from the planet were inducted into the ranks aboard the ship, having nowhere else to go. Janus was assigned back to a good old infantry position. Since there were no open pilot position in any of the Wraith squadrons, Terry was assigned to the same squad Janus was in. The Warspite, along with two other battlecruisers – the Andar and the Prosecutor – made headway for Dylar IV, another Confederate-controlled world.  
  
In just a day, news of what had happened on Tarsonis spread like wildfire throughout the Confederacy, the Umojan Protectorate, and the Kel-Morian Combine. Taking advantage of the situation, several radical groups began to copy-cat the actions of the Sons of Korhal. One such group were rebellious soldiers dissatisfied with the Confederacy's lax reactions to alien threat stationed on the asteroid base Endaris, which was in close orbit to Tarsonis. Confederate command - what survived of it - realized the coup when proper communications with the base failed. The Warspite and it's fleet were deemed to be the closest Confederate force, so they were ordered to take back Endaris at all cost. Rear Admiral Goro Nagare immediately had the Warspite fleet turn for the asteroid base and prepare for battle. Intelligence was that Endaris had self-sustaining power, and also had at least one battlecruiser and several squadrons of Wraiths for protection. Amidst a war meeting between the commanding officers aboard the three Confederate ships, it was decided that they would use overwhelming force to decimate Endaris' space protection, and then land troops to retake the installation. There was also one extra bit from command: don't allow any survivors, NOBODY. It was instinctively obeyed by almost all of the soldiers participating in the mission.  
  
Terry was not one of them.  
  
"So, Janus, what do you think about that kill 'em all order? I'd think if I were tryin' to save one of my bases, I'd try to rescue any friendlies."  
  
The two men, along with several squads of marines, were preparing to board the dropships that would take them to Endaris once the Wraith squadrons finished their job. Janus, holding his C-14 gauss rifle with one hand, shook his head.  
  
"Not my job to think. Besides, I figure that the rebels probably killed anyone who didn't join them. And if there are survivors, well… I'd try not to kill them myself. I get this bad vibe shit whenever I gotta kill some guy who ain't even fighting, or he surrendered already. And don't get me started about killing civvies. That leaves one helluva bad aftertaste…"  
  
Terry, holding his own rifle with both hands, was silent as Janus spoke. Glancing around at the other soldiers nearby, Terry took a step closer to Janus before speaking.  
  
"Janus, I didn't tell you what Squadron I'm from, did I?"  
  
Janus glanced over at the slightly shorter man, raising an eyebrow curiously. "Uh, no, you didn't, but what's that got to do with…?"  
  
"I'm from Epsilon. The science junkies. The guys involved with genetic research and all that shit. And I heard of Endaris before. That's an Epsilon base. A research base."  
  
Janus turned to Terry, confuse clear on his face. "Epsilon? Why didn't command tell us that? But, I still don't get what's so important about…"  
  
"They're hidin' something. It could just be my mind, but something tells me there's some fucked-up shit going on here…"  
  
Janus shook his head as the signal was given to board the dropships. "Terry, you're being paranoid. We're not gonna have some military underhand scheme or some shit to worry about. This'll be a simple clean sweep."  
  
The taller of the two soldiers was both right, and wrong. The mission would be a sweep. But it sure wasn't going to be clean.  
  
---  
  
"Admiral, we're nearing Endaris. Picking up multiple signals. Looks like one battlecruiser and several flights of Wraiths. There's a lot of asteroids out there too."  
  
Goro Nagare nodded at the helmsman's report. "Take us on a steady course through the asteroids. Shoot down any asteroids that come in front of us. Have the Wraiths go forward and begin the attack."  
  
"Yes, Admiral."  
  
Looking at the viewscreen, Nagare tapped his fingers idly on the arm of his chair while he watched the Wraith squadrons zoom forward. Within moments, flashes of white, orange, and red began flicking in his view; the battle had started.  
  
Three Confed Wraiths banked left as two rebel fighters zoomed by.  
  
"Blade Group, let's take 'em in the ass."  
  
"Got it!"  
  
The three fighters swerved about to land on the rebels' six; they opened fire immediately, but the rebels were dodging the missiles expertly.  
  
"Keep on them, they'll get hit sooner or later."  
  
"Lead, we've got three bogies coming in twelve o'clock high!"  
  
"Wha… Shit! It's a rope-the-dope maneuver! Blade Two, Blade Three, break!"  
  
The three Confederate fighters separated quickly, but Blade Three succumbed to the storm of missiles from the descending rebel Wraiths. The pilot who had shot Blade Three down grinned to himself, but suddenly his fighter erupted in a flash of super-heated gas and metal; one of the turrets on the Andar had nailed him in his brief lapse.  
  
On the Prosecutor, one of the radar operators peered at an anomalous signal on her screen. Several white blips that represented asteroids were moving closer from behind the three Cenfederate battlecruisers. It took her just a moment more to realize that the asteroids were moving on a collision course for the Behemoth-class ships.  
  
"Captain! They've got remote asteroid bombs!"  
  
"Helm, evasive action! Warspite, Andar, incoming from behind!"  
  
The Prosecutor was already banking to the right when the Warspite and Andar began to evade; the Warspite pulled up, the Andar pulled right. The captain of the Prosecutor sighed in relief when he saw the asteroids aiming for his ship speeding past. Unfortunately, such relief was short-felt as the Andar suddenly rocked with explosions on her stern and starboard. The stricken battlescruiser was impacted by several more asteroid bombs before she ripped apart amidships, gas, air and people expelled from the breaches in the hull. A moment later, the ship exploded, spattering the nearby Warspite with molten metal debris. Nagare watched mutely as the Warspite's sister ship faded into bits of debris.  
  
"… Helm, keep us moving forward. Target that battlecruiser with the Yamato cannon. Captain Grey, follow suit."  
  
The Prosecutor's skipper, younger than Nagare, gave an affirmative. The rebel battlecruiser was staying close by Endaris, using the base's anti-air defense turrets for protection and shooting down any confederate Wraiths that strayed nearby. As the Warspite and Prosecutor neared, their Yamato cannons charging, the enemy ship began to turn towards them, the air-to-air turrets opening fire at the incoming vessels. Both Confed ships slowed to a stop before coming within range of the asteroid base's anti-air turrets.  
  
"Fire," commanded Admiral Nagare.  
  
The two Behemoth ships released their charge on the split second the words let his lips, the orange-red bursts of energy sailing out and impacting the rebel cruiser. The double Yamato shot was nearly enough to damage the battlecruiser severely. The rebel ship, utterly in ruins, lost all power to its engines and began to be drawn into the very weak gravitational pull generated by Endaris; the gravity of the massive half-natural, half-artificial asteroid was non-existent unless one was as close as the rebel ship. The battlecruiser collided with the base, erupting into a massive blast of gas and flames that vanished as soon as it appeared.  
  
"What's the current situation?"  
  
"It seems all rebel air power has been utterly smashed. We've suffered a loss of one battlecruiser and four Wraiths."  
  
"Very well. Prepare for bombardment of Endaris' tertiary docking bay. Let's clear out those anti-air so our dropships don't drop like flies."  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
---  
  
Mission Two (First Half) Complete  
  
Begin Mission Two (Second Half)  
  
---  
  
Yay, got the next part out. Next mission is where things get sticky, like Terry prophesied. Expect to see some installation warfare. 


	3. P:M2B KD Project

Starcraft: Clash Potential  
  
By Seraphilim  
  
---  
  
Prologue: Pledge of No Allegiance  
  
Mission Two (Second Half): KD Project  
  
---  
  
The bombardment was swift and deadly, leaving the missile turrets stationed close to the docking bay in smoldering ruins. Four dropships launched, two each from the battlecruisers, and glided on into the docking bay. Immediately, gunfire erupted from the airlocks and behind cover in the bay. The dropship pilots set down quickly and popped their hatches; Confederate marines, firebat troops and medics poured out, responding quickly to the situation. The resulting firefight was brief, and the rebel soldiers in the bay were wiped out with minimal Confederate losses. An officer wearing the rank of Major issued orders to the remaining twenty soldiers.  
  
"There are three terminal stations in this sector, the main computer block and two secondaries. Split up into four teams. Anderson, Lineford, Seiji, you're team leaders. I'll lead First Team. First and Second will head for the main block while Three and Four each go for the secondary stations. One of them has to be able to deactivate the anti-air defenses so the battlecruisers can land the main troops in the primary and secondary docking bays so we can take this facility back from rebel control. Move out."  
  
The soldiers hauled ass, four groups of five, into the corridors leading from the docking bay deeper into the base. Terry lead Team Three; Janus was also part of his group. The other three soldiers were Burke, a typical hotheaded marine; Allison, a medic who toted a flash grenade launcher along with the medic gear; and Gordon, a big man in an equally big Firebat-issue CMC-600 armor suit. The five soldiers delved deeper into the base, walking through empty corridors and passing equally empty rooms; empty except for the presence of corpses - most likely the soldiers who had fought against the revolt.  
  
"Terry, y'know, computers that control base defenses are usually on the OTHER side of said defenses…"  
  
Janus' words rang true as a floor panel before them rose up to reveal a sentry gun. But, before the gun even barked out a single burst of gunfire, Terry had already shredded the weapon with his own storm of Impaler spikes. He shrugged, though the motion was difficult to tell since he was wearing the giant armor standard-issued to marines.  
  
"Then we bust through them."  
  
Burke eyed both Terry and the ruined sentry gun.  
  
"That's pretty fucking good for a birdie…"  
  
Turning back as they continued forward, Terry responded coolly, "A pilot's gotta know how to kick ass in the air AND on ground."  
  
Team Three encountered several more sentry guns that were quickly dispatched with concentrated gunfire. Of course, it was only a matter of time before they ran into LIVE sentries.  
  
The first two were waiting around the next corner, facing off to the other side of the corridor. Janus and Gordon, who were currently leading, opened fire immediately as they saw the white-armored rebels. The enemy soldier on the left died with lifting a finger, but his companion turned and managed a quick burst from his gauss rifle before Gordon's flames ate him away. The rebel's countershot damaged Janus' gun arm, and he told that to Terry.  
  
"Switch places with Burke. Burke, you come up here. Allison, you have any field repair gear?"  
  
As Burke and Janus switched, Allison shook her head, a few wisps of her chestnut brown hair discernable at the edge of the glass on her helmet.  
  
"Damn. Janus, how bad is the damage?"  
  
"Servos are sluggish on the uptake. My responses are going to be slower than I want them to be."  
  
"Stay careful. Let's go."  
  
They came to a large blast door at the end of this corridor. Terry and Gordon stepped up to the door and terry inserted a disc into the controls; the disc held software that would override the locking mechanisms. It took only seconds before the blast doors split down the middle and separated.  
  
On the other side were four rebel soldiers almost waiting for them. They fired as soon as the door opened, and Gordon caught the brunt of the attack. He fell to the floor, dead before he landed. Terry dodged back behind the wall, and made a waving motion towards the others to keep back.  
  
"Shit, they knew we were coming this time…"  
  
Cursing, Terry angled his rifle down at Gordon's corpse as he backed up; the big man had pitched forward upon being shot so his body was now lying in the open doorway.  
  
"Sorry, man. Rest in peace."  
  
With that, Terry fired at Gordon's body, or rather, at the fuel tanks on the CMC-600's back. The fuel lit up immediately and exploded. Terry squeezed his eyes shut as the explosion raged in front of him. As the fireball began to dissipate, he dove forward and swung his gun left and opened up a steady hail of gunfire. The yells and screams signified the rebel soldiers, blinded by the sudden explosion, falling to his attack.  
  
He hit the ground and slid to a stop against one end of the opened blast door. Looking back, he saw four bodies and one scorch mark on the floor. His teammates ran up to him, and Janus shouted, "Terry, you okay!?"  
  
"I'm fine. They got Gordon though."  
  
"I figured that fireball was his suit…"  
  
"Right. Anyway, the path is clear. Let's hurry."  
  
Beyond the blast doors was another, normal door. Beyond THAT was the room that held the computer terminals. The four soldiers performed a brief check; there was nothing but a few bodies. There was also a second door leading into an adjoining room.  
  
"You three check out that room. I'll deal with the computer," said Terry. The others complied and left as Terry hacked into the nearest terminal. After only a minute, he cursed. This was the wrong station. No access to base defenses could be gained from here. He clicked on his suit's radio.  
  
"First, this is Third. This one's a dud. Negative on defense deactivation."  
  
"Understood, Third. We're almost to the main room, we'll try from there. You head back to the docking bay."  
  
"Roger that. Third out."  
  
Turning off the mic, Terry turned back to the computer. 'Maybe there's something else of use I can find in here,' he thought as he searched through the base's databank while he waited for his team to return.  
  
"Damn, this is Epsilon crap alright. They got research on the Protoss and Zerg… Hey, this is info about Protoss tech! Were they studying it so they could incorporate it into Terran use? It's called the Discriminator Development Project…"  
  
Checking further, Terry came across something that snagged his attention.  
  
"More recent files… Weird, there's an old test project that was recently renewed… Project KD… …Oh god, they wouldn't…"  
  
"Sir, you ought to come look at this!"  
  
That was Allison's voice. Logging off the system, Terry grabbed his gun and hurried over to the next room. He got quite a shock when he entered. The room was filled with Protoss technology; psi-blades, disruptors, even the hulking mass of a reaver. He gaped at the scene in disbelief.  
  
"What the hell…?"  
  
"Those were my words too, Terry. This is quite a bit much to have after only a month or so of hostile contact, eh?" stated Janus pointedly.  
  
Burke cursed, "Y'mean they've been in league with the 'Toss all this time!?"  
  
"Maybe. It could be anything. Anyways, you called it right, Terry. Something's going on here."  
  
The four marines looked around the room in silent awe. They'd all heard of Protoss weaponry, but never really saw them up close and personal like this. Terry paused in front of a room-height cylinder filled with green liquid and what seemed to be a body.  
  
"This is the Discriminator Project."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Found it on the database. Someone's trying to incorporate Protoss technology and Terran tech together, even down to sticking human brains in Protoss bodies."  
  
"Jesus Christ, what sick bastard…?"  
  
"Seems like they want an ultimate weapon, for human-use."  
  
Janus kicked a half-assembled Protoss probe aside. "God, they'd probably test the weapon on another Korhal IV…"  
  
Terry suddenly brought his head up and looked around with caution.  
  
"Someone's here. I can feel him… her? Burke, to your left! She's cloaked!!"  
  
The brash marine whipped around and emptied a full clip into the hidden assailant. At least, he thought he did. Terry could feel the invisible enemy moving around the room quickly, heading for…  
  
"Allison, she's coming right at you! Move!!"  
  
Too late was his warning. As Allison, her eyes betraying her fear, looked around in panic for the cloaked enemy, she was suddenly hauled off her feet and slammed into the nearby bulkhead. She gasped out a cry of pain; the medic was impaled to the wall through her belly by some sort of blade. Fresh blood dripped along the hazy outline of the weapon. Burke yelled out her name, and Alison could only gasp painfully in response as she dropped her grenade launcher and grasped the now-visible blade with her hands in a futile attempt to pull it out.  
  
'Wait, if the blade is uncloaked…' thought Terry warily as he quickly locked onto the presence of the Ghost. This time, she was running towards Janus and Burke, and was un-slinging the C-10 canister rifle from her back.  
  
"Janus, fire towards the door!"  
  
Without question or pause, Janus complied, raining a deadly hail of spikes at the doorway. This storm of gunfire interposed itself between Burke and the Ghost.  
  
"Burke, she's right in front of you!"  
  
"Got it, Sir!"  
  
Burke brought up his gauss rifle and fired. The rounds never hit, as the Ghost dropped to the floor and rolled under both marines' gunfire. All of a sudden, Burke felt something hard tapped against his chest.  
  
"Oh shi…!"  
  
The Ghost fired up once. The canister round ripped through Burke's face and head, killing him instantly. Before his armored corpse fell to the ground, the Ghost had already rolled over to fire two rounds at Janus, dropping him to the floor also. This left Terry alone against a hidden foe.  
  
Or rather, that's what it would have been with a normal soldier, and Terry would be the first to admit that he was not even close to normal. He dove for the floor, firing Impaler rounds at the Ghost. Her eyes widened in shock as she realized he could see through her cloaking, and she rolled to the side in haste, dropping her canister rifle. Terry grinned ferally as he continued firing, the spike ricocheting off the floor as they drew closer to the woman… they stopped suddenly.  
  
"Oh, fuck, don't go dry now…!"  
  
As he fumbled for a new clip, the Ghost surged to her feet and rushed for him. Knowing that he could never snag the reload in time, he gave up on grabbing the clip and swung his rifle like a club. The Ghost deftly dodged the bludgeoning weapon and kicked his gun hand hard, knocking the gun from his grip. He lunged at her and swung his left arm at her head. She ducked under the arm and used it as leverage to throw him to the ground in an Aikido maneuver despite the massive weight difference. Even then, as he was been tossed down, he was able to manage striking her in the shoulder with his free arm. The blow didn't seem to faze her as she straddled him, locking her toned legs around his armored waist, and hit the visor release button on his helmet. His visor swung up, and he stared at the near black, feminine silhouette he'd been following through the entire struggle. She reached a hand up to her neck and pressed a button; she de-cloaked, allowing him to see her real self. She had oddly colored hair, a mix of red and yellow streaks, that was bound into a long and flowing ponytail. Her eyes were the color of sapphire. Her nose was small and slightly long, and her lips were red and luscious. She fit the "Deadly Beauty" description perfectly. She gave a feral smile, her canines exposed almost as if to give her the look of a wild animal.  
  
"Very, VERY good, my dear prey. That was quite an exhilarating scuffle you gave me, much better than your companions. I will delight greatly in killing such a worthy prey."  
  
Terry grunted as she slowly and almost sexily laced her fingers around his neck. She brought her face close to his, and he could smell her quickened breath. If he'd not been this close to dying, he would have noted that she had a really soft breath that didn't seem to fit her feral attitude. She licked her lips slowly, almost as if savoring the moment, then she went ridged as a board for a moment. She squeezed her eyes shut and let out a sigh, almost as if she had just… 'No way, that's crazy. Nobody gets off on shit like this unless they're completely insane!' screamed Terry's mind.  
  
"Ahhh…"  
  
As she came down from her orgasm (At least, that's what Terry expected.), her hands pressed down slightly, making it harder for Terry to breathe. She opened her eyes and smiled again as she leaned her face down and locked her lips to his briefly. After the kiss, she leaned back and loosened her grip a little.  
  
"You're the first one to give me this rush for quite a while, Prey. It's almost a shame that I'm going to kill you now."  
  
Terry could hear the capital P in Prey as she began tightening her grip. She brought her face close to his, staring into his eyes intensely.  
  
"To watch my prey's expression this closely as I end his life, it gives me such a wonderful feeling…"  
  
'She's completely insane…! And she's killing me!' Terry tried to move, but she locked her legs tighter around him to stop his thrashing, her eyes not leaving his.  
  
Suddenly, she stopped, a puzzled expression on her face. She loosened her grip and peered at Terry's left eye. After just a moment, she reared back and laughed.  
  
"Ahahahaha! Who'd have thought I'd come into this encounter with one of the original KD subjects? Such a surprise!"  
  
She looked down at him, her eyes piercing his gaze.  
  
"Hello KD-0079, I'm KD-0084. I'll think I'll spare you, but we'll meet again."  
  
KD-0084 hopped to her feet lightly and activated her cloak.  
  
"And when we do meet again, I'll be sure to make you mine!"  
  
With that last phrase, she vanished. Completely. Terry, still lying prone, couldn't sense her anymore.  
  
"Jesus…"  
  
Looking down at himself, he saw a patch of shiny liquid on the abdomen of his armor.  
  
"Shit, she really DID get her jollies off on me… But, if she's a KD subject… Oh God, Janus!"  
  
Scrambling to his feet, Terry rushed over to Janus' body.  
  
"Janus, you still with me, man? Come on, say something!"  
  
"…Te… Terry?"  
  
Janus was alive. Somehow he'd managed to take the brunt of the canister rounds on his rifle and gun arm. The rifle was utterly busted, and Janus groaned in pain when he moved his arm.  
  
"God, I think my arm is shredded… I think the auto-painkillers broke."  
  
Terry reached over and hit the manual injection switch, and Janus sighed as the endorphins were injected into his arm. Terry hauled his buddy to his feet, supporting him by his good arm.  
  
"Terry, Allison… I think Allison's still alive…"  
  
The two men trudged past Burke's headless shell to the wall where Allison was still hanging. Terry stared. She'd managed to pull the blade out nearly halfway before her strength must have given out. They could just barely make out her weak and controlled breathing.  
  
"Allison?"  
  
"Sti… still here… Sir."  
  
"Janus, grab the blade with your good hand, I'll hold Allison. Pull that piece of shit out of her!"  
  
The two men swiftly got Allison off of the wall; Janus threw aside the bloodied blade. Terry half-supported, half-carried Allison while Janus led, holding his rifle one-handed in his good hand. They limped back to the docking bay and grabbed the nearest Confederate dropship for an evac back to the Warspite.  
  
---  
  
End Mission Two (Second Half)  
  
---  
  
KD Project. What is it? Terry and the mysterious Ghost woman seem to know, and from her words they are products of the project. Harboring memories of the horrific truth of the project, Terry must now concern himself with the welfare of his two surviving squad mates. He also must face Confederate corruption and internal warfare personally… and make a decision.  
  
Next mission: Pledge of No Allegiance  
  
End note: The KD Project I got from the title of two songs from the SNK fighting game King of Fighters. Both Terry's and the crazy Ghost's subject numbers are named after the two songs, which are "KD-0079" and "KD-0084." Both are excellent techno rock songs that seem to fit more in with something like Starcraft than a fighting game.  
  
Razorclaw X used KD-0079 in a map in one of his custom campaigns found on the fan-site for custom-made campaigns: Campaign Creations. 


	4. P:M3 Pledge of No Allegiance

Starcraft: Clash Potential  
  
By Seraphilim  
  
---  
  
Prologue: Pledge of No Allegiance  
  
Mission Three: Pledge of No Allegiance  
  
---  
  
"How are they?"  
  
Terry was standing by the door that led to the Warspite's medical bay. He turned slightly to the woman who had asked the question - Ensign Faye Zhang - better known to Terry as the pilot of Heavy Two, the dropship that had pulled him, Janus, and several others off of the now-infested Tarsonis. She also happened to be piloting the same dropship that med-evacced his squad back to the Warspite after the fatal encounter with KD-0084.  
  
"Doc says that Janus' arm will be back in one piece within a week or two. But, Allison…"  
  
"What is it, Sir?"  
  
Terry bit his lip as he hit his right fist against the bulkhead.  
  
"They say she's got massive internal bleeding, hemorrhaging, infection, shit, shit and more shit. The doctor thinks the blade that Ghost nailed her with was tipped with some kind of poison. He says she won't live through the night."  
  
The two pilots stood silently, Faye didn't know what she could say to ease Terry; Terry was cursing himself out for letting that insane woman, KD-0084, kill his squad mates like she did.  
  
"Dammit… If only I had sensed that crazy bitch faster…"  
  
"Sensed? But Lieutenant, you're not a Ghost…"  
  
Looking over at the lithe, black-haired pilot, Terry shook his head.  
  
"Not now I'm not. But three years ago, when I was still some fresh faced greenie who had just enrolled in the academy…"  
  
---  
  
"Cadet Terry Lineford, is it?"  
  
A young Terry looked up at the officer who stood before him.  
  
"That's me, Sir. Can I help you?"  
  
"Cadet, I am Colonel Samuel Davids, Epsilon Squadron. I've been speaking with your instructor about your performance, and well, I'm pleasantly surprised."  
  
"How so, Sir?"  
  
"To put it plain and simple, Cadet, you've exhibited reactions and abilities only attributed to those who have Psionic abilities. I'm asking if you'd like to participate in a special class…"  
  
---  
  
"You mean you were selected for Ghost training?"  
  
"Yeah, that's what I thought. I jumped at it since I'd heard that Ghosts are some of the most skilled and powerful soldiers in the Confederacy. But, it wasn't simple Ghost training. It was more 'specialized.'"  
  
---  
  
Two senior officers observe a room where several of the cadets who were selected trained. Young Terry and another man were engaged in a close-combat exercise, with Terry disarming the man swiftly and throwing him to the floor.  
  
"So, which of the subjects show the best results?"  
  
"0004, 0022, 0035, 0039, 0042, 0052, 0065, 0067, 0070, and 0079 have the best testing results out of the eighty subjects."  
  
"Exactly ten, huh? Perfect. Gather them together. We'll take them to project HQ for the final stage."  
  
"What do we do about the others?"  
  
The higher ranking officer turned towards the door and lit a cigar.  
  
"Kill them."  
  
"Are you sure, sir? They could still…"  
  
"They are of no consequence. And we can't exactly allow any possible chance of word being spread about the Project, hmm?"  
  
"…Yes Sir."  
  
---  
  
"What!? They killed seventy cadets? That's insane!"  
  
Terry nodded grimly.  
  
"Yeah. It was reported originally as a bizarre accident with the training facility exploding, killing everyone inside. Only later did I find out the truth…'  
  
He paused, biting his lip. He motioned for them to start walking down the corridor. Faye followed Terry's lead as he kept talking.  
  
"That wasn't the worst of it. The ten of us, you'd think we were lucky. But we weren't…"  
  
---  
  
The ten remaining cadets were put through extremely-intense and near-fatal Ghost-type mission training, all as real as possible. Live ammunition. Veteran soldiers as opponents. A cadet who was caught by a guard in a mission would be shot dead on the spot.  
  
Half of the cadets died within the first two weeks. A sixth killed himself after breaking under the pressure.  
  
The four who survived were 0022, 0052, 0067 and 0079.  
  
---  
  
"Jesus Christ… Resoc and standard Ghost training sound like vacations… So, is that it? The four of you survived the training?"  
  
The two of them now stood in an empty store room, where no surveillance monitors were installed.  
  
"No, it wasn't over. We didn't know each other except by number, but we knew we were in the same boat. We almost had a kinship… I even buddied up with 0022 during the training; it was probably one of the only reasons I didn't lose it like 0035. The last test was the worst, and I wouldn't put anyone through that and keep a guilt-free conscience."  
  
"What was the last test…?"  
  
"Deathmatch, for lack of a better term. They threw us into a maze of sorts, no weapons, and told us individually that we had to kill the others before they killed us. Then before sending us off, we were drugged with a type of stim that heightens adrenaline to near-fatal levels. To be honest, I think the guys in charge just wanted a show…"  
  
"So, you won?"  
  
Terry growled at that, and Faye stepped back despite herself.  
  
"NO. Nobody 'won.' I survived, but killing the others, that was NOT a victory. Do you think I enjoyed it when I had to break 0022's arms before I could snap his neck without him clawing my eyes out? I may have been drugged, but I could see what I was doing, I could comprehend it, but I couldn't stop it. Sometimes I wonder if maybe by living that I was the loser; the guy who drew the short straw."  
  
"So, you survived. What then?"  
  
"That was the last test. Now that they had sorted out all of the 'unworthy,' they began the treatment. You know how Ghosts have blocks in their mind to keep their Psionic abilities in check? They gave me something else. They built a void, something that renders my mind invisible on Psionic wavelengths, but allows me to act with those abilities. They made my power like a river; it only flowed one way. But, I only ended up developing defensive powers, nothing offensive like altering people's brains or zapping someone with psychic energy. I ended up as an Anti-Ghost basically, but that's not what they wanted. They almost wrote me off as a failure; I think they probably would have killed me too, when the project leaders suddenly were found dead. Most believe it was a radical group or espionage."  
  
Terry paused for a breath.  
  
"Anyways, with the guys in charge dead, the high brass disbanded the project before it could be completed, and sent everyone on their separate ways. I was found usable as a pilot, so I got assigned to the flight corps. It was like heaven to me, and I grabbed onto the opportunity like a life preserver."  
  
"So, that's why you're a pilot now."  
  
"Yeah. Story of my god damned life. But, in Endaris, I found that Epsilon had revived the old project. The Ghost we fought seems to be the successful result, what I should have turned out to be: an insane, blood-lusting soldier of death. I'm afraid to think about what they put HER through… Oddly, she didn't kill me. Maybe she's not the perfect Ghost they wanted."  
  
Faye leaned against the dark-colored wall, and suddenly spoke. "I'm guessing you don't like what the Confederates are doing, huh?"  
  
He snorted in response. "No shit. I'd go so far as to guess that Nagare's Zeta Squadron is likely to just take the project data for their own use… and there's still Epsilon."  
  
"Terry."  
  
Faye said his name without any honorifics or such. 'She must want to talk about something serious,' thought Terry.  
  
"Terry, you're not the only one fed up with the Confeds. A couple buddies of mine and I want to jump ship; we're hating the Confederacy too. Want to come with us? We'll be leaving during the time Nagare and most of his men are on and securing Endaris."  
  
The answer was simple for Terry.  
  
"I'm in."  
  
---  
  
Later, Terry checked in to see Janus and Allison. Standing by the medical bay's beds, he stood by Janus as he looked at Allison, who was breathing weakly and having life-support equipment hooked up to her.  
  
"Janus, I'm leaving."  
  
The big marine snapped his head up to stare at Terry.  
  
"You serious?"  
  
"Yeah. I don't give a damn about the Confederacy any longer; hell, the Sons of Korhal just issued a proclamation earlier today about how they were taking the reins of government and creating the Dominion, so the Confederacy is probably going to die soon anyways. I'd feel better being far and away from it's death throes."  
  
He looked over at Janus solemnly.  
  
"Come with us, Janus. You're a good man, you know what the Confederacy has done."  
  
Janus shook his head slowly.  
  
"No, I can't go with you. I'm a soldier. My whole family has been soldiers. For me to break that tradition just because of personal feelings… Sorry. But, I won't stop you. You can rest assured that Corporal Janus M. Stokes will always be your ally."  
  
The silence that permeated the room after Janus' vow was punctured by the beeping from the heart rate monitor next to Allison's bed.  
  
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.. BEEP.. BEEP… BEEP…  
  
The tone began slowing down. Terry paced over to Allison's bed to rest a hand on hers.  
  
"You were good, Allison. Have a peaceful rest."  
  
Allison didn't respond as the monitor continued to slow down like a dying clock. Not a minute more passed before the monitor flat-lined. Allison was dead.  
  
"Well, I'll be going. Bye, Janus."  
  
"Take care of yourself, Terry."  
  
"Right."  
  
Without another word, the pilot left the room. Janus sighed as he leaned back against the head of the bed.  
  
---  
  
There were five of them waiting in the hangar. Terry didn't understand exactly how they were being undetected, but he didn't feel like arguing. Faye, along with another woman and three men, waited by the gang-plank that led into Heavy Two.  
  
"Took you long enough. One of our tech friends stayed behind and arranged for this bay to be empty long enough for us to gather and jump ship on my dropship. We're all ready. How about you, Terry?"  
  
Terry didn't hesitate.  
  
"I'm ready."  
  
---  
  
Heavy Two launched from the Warspite without any impediments. The majority of Zeta Squadron was on Endaris, and the rest were either occupied with other duties or simply not paying attention to the lumbering transport as it detached from the two battlecruisers. Only when it was already a kilometer away did someone wake up and the laser batteries cried out with angry red beams. Faye smirked as she rose her sunglasses a bit to look back at the cruisers.  
  
"Sloppy sloppy. Nagare's gonna ream someone's ass. Heh."  
  
Not a single blast hit the dropship as it left the system. Terry, inside the transport bay, simply sat still for the ride as he mused about what he'd found out. The other former Confederates conversed between themselves or were silent like he.  
  
Someone would have to stop the KD Project before it achieved perfect success. And if he had to, he'd do himself, even if the universe was against him.  
  
He made his pledge of no allegiance on that day.  
  
---  
  
End Mission Three  
  
End Prologue  
  
---  
  
That's it for the prologue campaign. Terry must find a way to destroy the KD Project, even if he has to work with those he regarded as enemies once before. 


End file.
